The World Cup hopes for Roman Shirokov have been crushed by a knee injury, perhaps forever.

Well, not the knee injury. Shirokov is 32-years-old, and the Russian captain is having surgery next week to repair a knee ligament injury. Thirty-six year-old World Cup performers are not alien, but they aren’t a regular occurrence.

Shirokov has been capped 41 times, scoring 12 times. It’s a major blow for a country hoping to survive Belgium, Algeria and South Korea. The injury could seriously shift the fortunes of the group.